We flew into Sicily and spent a couple days to see one of my husband’s ancestral homelands, then flew up north to spend some time hiking Cinque Terre, part of the Italian Riviera. We drove through Tuscany and finished up our trip with a few days in Rome. (8-11 day trip)

Cinque Terre is at once a serene oasis, a seething tourist destination, a pocket of communities on the edge, a place with a sometimes violent and tragic but rich history, and a place where you never know what you will find next.